Quote of the WEEK

"The inexorable passage of invisible & intangible time eats up all creatures. Knowing this the wise keep their attention on the timeless."

- Deepak Chopra

Hands By Sarah Kay

Whoa!! Another gem discovered by googling poem, YouTube. Lovely! Who ever thought you could slam for two minutes straight about hands, but Sarah Kay does it perfectly. I couldn't find much info about her online, but suffice it to say that she's amazing and needs to get a site up pronto! This mos def brought a smile to my face:-)

Enjoy!

Hands learn
More than minds do
Hands learn how to hold other hands
How to grips pencils and mold poetry
How to tickle pianos and dribble a basketball
And grip the handles of a bicycle
How to hold old people
And touch babies
I love hands like I love people
They are the maps and compasses with which we navigate our way through life

America - This is Why You're Fat

KFC "Double Down" Sandwich Replaces Bread With Fried Chicken



KFC (AKA the reason why we're fat) is test marketing a new sandwich that has two pieces of fried chicken (instead of buns), and includes bacon, two kinds of cheeses and "special sauce." I love my fried chicken, but this is redic! I must admit, though...I am intrigued.

For all you fat kids in Rhode Island and Nebraska, let me know how

Quote of the WEEK

"Poetry is concerned with using with abusing, with losing with wanting with denying with avoiding with adoring with replacing the noun."

- Gertrude Stein, Lectures in America

For the Love of Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz has a new book out and you need to pick it up...stat! Honestly...this is on my Amazon wish list and will probably be a present from me to me as soon as the pay check rolls in this week. Check out the description below-

The first definitive history of one of the 21st century's most explosive art movements, Words In Your Face explores the birth, growing pains and continuing development of the Poetry Slam -- a raucous poetry event that has been called "a pop culture phenomenon" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times), "the death of art" (Harold Bloom, Paris Review) and has been blamed for making "poetry sexy again in a way it hasn't been since the heyday of the Beats" (Stephen Holden, The New York Times).

Spoken word icons such as Saul Williams, Maggie Estep, Bob Holman and John S. Hall join scores of other poets, organizers, filmmakers, scholars and critics in bringing the story of the New York City Poetry Slam movement to life. From its origins in the roofless, unheated Nuyorican Poets Cafe and its mid-90s rise in the pop culture ranks thanks to MTV and Lollapalooza, to its fresh successes on stage and small screen thanks to Russell Simmon's Def Poetry projects and its devoted following among youth poets, queer poets and poets of color, the Poetry Slam is analyzed, idealized and criticized, all from a uniquely New York perspective.

One thing I must say - this woman knows how the heck to name a book! Beside Words In Your Face , Cristin has three other titles with equally spectacular names.

Dear Future Boyfriend
Hot Teen Slut
Working Class Represent
Oh Terrible Youth

ps...If you haven't checked out her website, you're missing out on...life. Yes...life!! She's awesome. Nuf Said:-)

http://www.aptowicz.com/NEW!

Stuff I Write: A Poem about Him

Muscle Memory
By Susan Baba

I miss
you
Miss feeling solid and secure in something stronger than myself
Even if I had been everything
Would that have been enough?
Would that have made you stay?
Now, I feel your absence as I never thought I would
Like amputation gone wrong
With muscle memory winning over
I still feel the tingle of arms holding me tight
Still feel the breath of you
Your closeness
The sensation of something
Reminding me that "no longer here"
Does not mean you are gone

Butterfly Nut House

A poem honoring Peter James Conti. This one's by Lynn Procope...beautiful.

As a lead in to this poem, she wrote this on her blog - "This is also for Danny, my love, who lets me cry every time I try to tell him about Peter and who'd never flirted with a man (let alone a gorgeous black Italian gay man who occasionally talked to the voices over his shoulder) until he met Pete but did it cause I said he had to love all my Petes if he wanted me to love him. I appreciate that kind of love. Because of these people, it's all around me. It's not easy, it grows up the wrong way but gets its ass in gear and learns a new thing every day. For all of you even if you never know it. ack! so sappy!"

Butterfly Nut House – in memory of PJC
By Lynne Procope – 1.17.06

We buried you, in a cold snap, during
a transit strike, nothing moving except
under the power or our own energies.

We whispered, a cancer, what made it?
and there grew a fear of our rash rough throats,
everything a threat. We shifted uneasy,

shoulder to shoulder, almost as in love
as we all were in the old days but for
this thrall of absolute ice, we owned

no explanations except perhaps sucrose,
and red wines too sweet for grownups. Peter.
how did we arrive here, without you?

Tonight I write at our old holy place.
The bartender does not know you’re dead,
He gives me free beer; cold benediction.

He begins the list, asks after our circle.
This one still hungry, another married,
the youngest carries tumors; mistaken babies,

the loudest gone to where he can praise
an easier god and you; each time I’m asked,
I forget which words mean that you’re dead;

underweight, 90 lbs when they cracked
the ice bound earth. I have not spoken aloud
since your first call to say, Cancer. Perhaps

your bare back exposed as a scandal and
all your lovely hungry boys. The last thing
I said was, How do I apologize

for letting in the monster that is eating you?
Was it your father’s ministry, his holy,
the cracked closet door, your mother’s deep cough,

or the voices that leached onto your ear?
When you stopped listening, did they migrate
south, inhabit your spine? You abdicated

madness. Was that it? You, younger, crazy
more naked, you louder, willing to sing
off key, off beat, all the wrong words.
More

Just For Fun: Nerd Link (thx @Geesu)

Ever wondered the breakdown of Twitter users? The number of nukes it would take to destroy the world? Or the timeline of global media scare stories? Or...how many people prefer coffee or tea. Well, wonder no more!!!


Information is Beautiful is a site that presents ideas, issues, knowledge, and data in a visually stimulating way. Charts, graphs, the whole nie yards. In essence, a nerd's paradise. Connect with your inner statistician:-)

Enjoy!

www.informationisbeautiful.net/

Rock Stars of the Contemporary Poetry World

To steal a page from the Intel playbook - "Your rock stars aren't like our rock stars" :-) Ours are of the nerdy, thoughtful, intellectual kind who have a way with words and energy that jumps off the page!

Enjoy the Poetry Foundations latest list of poetry best sellers.


Contemporary Best Sellers: Week of August 2, 2009

1 Evidence by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press)
2 Slamming Open the Door by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno (Alice James Books)
3 Red Bird (paperback) by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press)
4 The Shadow of Sirius by W. S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press)
5 New and Selected Poems: Volume Two (paperback) by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press)
6 Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press)
7 Thirst (paperback) by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press)
8 Endpoint and Other Poems by John Updike (Knopf)
9 The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (paperback) by Billy Collins (Random House)
10 Ballistics by Billy Collins (Random House)

Check out the full list

To the Children of Immigrants

If you are the child of immigrant parents, you should be able to relate to Bassey Ikpi piece below.

"those arms mothered my mother
taught her how to mother me
i inhale the history from her skin
and she tells me of a small, scared girl
carried away on an iron bird to america
seems like that same bird has returned
only to replace that perfect girl with me
this strange tongue-tied woman
the one that can barely say hello
without the clicks and moans
the dips and tones
of the white mans language
it breaks my heart to realize that i can only love her clearly
in english"

Unless you're one of us, you can't fully appreciate how unnerving it is to feel like you're living in limbo between two cultures. Never truly feeling like the motherland is home. But not ready to recant your native citizenry for this new, American one. I feel you. Despite the cultural schizophrenia we have all inherited, I'm still amazed by how awesome our parents are. Can you imagine leaving all that is familiar for something you "hope" will be better a better world? So, to my mother - who braved lands unknown to bring us up in a world of greater opportunity...thank you. Happy birthday Mommy!!

ps...if you love Bassey as much as I do, check out her FB fan page.

Get to Know the Greats - Donald Hall

Donald Hall is one of those great contemporary poets that chose to make his living by the pen far before it was cool. He's a former poet laureate, a Guggenheim fellow, twice over, and one of those god father's of the written word who doesn't get as much credit as he should.

Enjoy!

Gold
By Donald Hall

Pale gold of the walls, gold
of the centers of daisies, yellow roses
pressing from a clear bowl. All day
we lay on the bed, my hand
stroking the deep
gold of your thighs and your back.
We slept and woke
entering the golden room together,
lay down in it breathing
quickly, then
slowly again,
caressing and dozing, your hand sleepily
touching my hair now.

We made in those days
tiny identical rooms inside our bodies
which the men who uncover our graves
will find in a thousand years,
shining and whole.

Listen to him read it here

Who Was Peter of the Earth?

Peter James Conti was a poet, a painter, a changling. He loved calamari and The Simpsons. He is the best friend I have ever had. I cannot recall when or where we met. It is as if he had always been a part of my life. He was the Mulder to my Scully. Homer to my Marge. He was my heart. I do not know who I will be in this world without him. But I know that my days are full of more love and light and laughter because of his incredible spirit. - Felice Belle
From Words on Asphalt

After reading this excerpt from Felice's tribute above and listening to Marty McConnell's touching poem "Alignment", I was inspired to find out more about this beautiful man whose untimely death in winter 2005 was so beautifully mourned by many in the NYC poetry scene.

Read another triubte here

I was also inspired to write a bit myself. Enjoy!

To Peter
By Susan Baba

Peter of the Earth, I never knew you
But my heart feels like it did
You see, I know you only through verse
Free words careening into beautiful
Through the living memorial your friends have build to you
in poems
Precious homage
Blessed praise
In lyric
Through metaphor
I hear their voices cracking with every line
They feel your absence like empty at their doorstep
Yet they honor you with laughter
With every line,
Praising your voice

Your joy
Your free, free way of calling every moment special
You poet turned angel, you
They have honored you well

Great Links: Urban Word NYC

Looking for writing workshops for teens in the NYC area? Check out - www.urbanwordnyc.org. So jealous of the NYC poetry scene. How can we get some of this in the Nati?

Info from their site...sounds like they're about the business. If you've been, let me know. I'm curious to hear what it's like.

Enjoy:-)

Founded on the belief that teenagers can and must speak for themselves, Urban Word NYC™ (UW) has been at the forefront of the youth spoken word, poetry and hip-hop movements in New York City since 1999. Urban Word NYC presents literary arts education and youth development programs in the areas of creative writing, journalism, college prep, literature and hip-hop. UW provides FREE, safe and uncensored writing workshops to teens year round, and hosts the Annual NYC Teen Poetry Slam, NY Knicks Poetry Slam, local and national youth slams, festivals, reading series, open mics, and more. UW works directly with 15,000 teens per year in New York City alone, and as a steering committee member of the National Youth Spoken Word Coalition, has partner programs in 45 cities. UW also has a vigorous community educator and teacher training series which links inquiry-based classroom practices with the most progressive academic trends in student-centered pedagogy.

Urban Word NYC believes that free self-expression —— matured in an enhanced critical literacy environment —— improves selfconfidence and strengthens educational achievement for NYC’s inner city youth. We promote active literacy, critical thought, and positive social dialogue across boundaries of age, race, class, gender, culture, and sexuality. Our many workshops are designed to enhance critical thinking skills, leadership, and to ignite a personal commitment to growth and learning which leads to heightened inschool performance, and greater interest in pursuing higher education.

The Calling

For all of you out there, dealing with a bit of existential angst...Wondering who you are and where you belong...words from Peter of the Earth.

The Calling
By Peter of the Earth

Searching for the missing piece that is me
I want to know what it’s like to be out from under my own thumb
To run to places I dream about when I’m sleeping
When I’m awake
To wake
Up

I’d be floating on a sea
I’d be free
Like the breeze on my back
Be slick
Tight
Right
I’d swim like Dolphins till my skin stretches and wrinkles
Feels like pins and needles
Piercing my fins till it hurts
But I don’t want to stop cause I like it
Get all caught up in it
Like the sun
Washing me through my window at noon
Warming me in my bed when I’m not working
Like the music from my alarm clock that gives me no choice but to rise and dance
Lift the air up from under my feet and fly
To see out of my third eye and speak
Words kept secret and silent for generations
By grandmothers who told you not to unleash them except for when you need
Or when you get the spirit or
Some spirit gets you
More

Quote of the WEEK

"I want to be remembered, before I’m forgotten."
-Peter of the Earth

To My Secret Crush;-)

I Want To Kiss You
By Bassey Ikpi

Stumbled on this chica randomly, but I can way relate to having "a crush on a friend who just wants to be friends." Man!! This poem oozes of everything I wish I could say to him. You know who you are, boo...actually...you really don’t :-( To all girls (and maybe guys) out there...secretly pining for the one.

Enjoy!



For more info on Bassey, check out - http://www.basseyworld.com/main.php

"Love Song For Kelis" By Michael Cirelli

Is Michael Cirelli the reason for the Kelis/ Nas break-up? Is he the baby daddy? Hmmm...

"I can see how some might think that your voice
is a milky cherry drowning on the bottom of a chocolate shake
or that holding your cd
next to my face
in the mirror
is the picture of a perfect couple..."

Great piece. Very funny:-)

In Case You Care: Paula Quits "Idol"

I really had to muster up all of the Christianly love in my body to refrain from making a derogatory comment about this one. Suffice it to say that, while I don't really give an F, it is my pop culture duty to report the facts:-) Paula's out because she boo hoo-ed about not getting paid as much as her fellow American Idol cast members. No word on who's going to replace her.



Here's the story, according to Access Hollywood

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- After much speculation, Paula Abdul will not be returning to "American Idol" next season.

The "Idol" judge hit her Twitter page on Tuesday night to break the news.

"With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to #Idol," she posted on her Twitter page. "I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon."

Following the announcement, FOX issued a statement of their own to Access Hollywood confirming Paula would not be in her judge's chair next season for the first time since the show began in 2002.
More

Book Clubs for the Homeless

It is my firm conviction that literature can actually free us! It can open our eyes to worlds we've never known, open our hearts to the heartbreaks and joys of others, and open our minds to the possibilities that lie ahead. For this small group of homeless adults in Boston, the book club they have formed has allowed them to find a sense of normalcy in their unpredictable lives.

“It’s five people in a book group, not 5,000 people fed, but it’s five people I can pull aside and talk to,’’ said Tibbetts - the group's founder. Indeed Tibbetts. Five people...whose lives will be forever changed by the ability to expand their minds. As you can tell, I'm loving this:-) and I was so so happy to find out that similar book clubs for the homeless are cropping up all over the country. There's even one here in Cincinnati through Ink Tank.

Read more about the Boston club below -

The word is their bond
From a rare friendship, a book club for the homeless is born

By Jenna Russell, Boston Globe Staff Write

At the crest of Beacon Hill in a well-appointed room, the Tuesday morning book club is tearing a novel apart.

The critique, on this warm early summer day, is merciless, and as it heats up, the meeting crackles with complaints. There should have been more clues to help the reader unravel the mystery, Donnie insists. Ned, between bites of a glazed doughnut, dismisses a main character as unbelievable. Rob is irked by the same character’s inconsistencies.

“For someone who knows everything about her son, she doesn’t know a damn thing,’’ Rob says, his voice dark with disappointment.

The men drinking coffee at the round wooden table are dressed casually in sweat shirts, jeans, and sneakers. Some of their faces are lined beyond their years. But as they deftly flip through paperbacks assessing literary merit, there is no sign their lives are anything but normal.

For two lively hours every Tuesday morning, in a church meeting room with old oil portraits, they are book club members first and homeless people second.

The story of the book club, now in its 10th month, is a tale of ordinary city life upended. It began with a stunningly unlikely friendship, between two men from different worlds: Peter Resnik, a high-powered lawyer on his way to work, and Rob, a homeless man guarding a friend’s shopping cart on Boston Common. Through months of daily conversations, that began with jokes and sports talk and gradually delved deeper, they found a common interest: literature. And when they saw the bridge that they had built, they recognized its potential for others.

In a short time, they say, the book club has proved its power to reach homeless people and build their confidence. Emboldened by its success, Ron Tibbetts, a Beacon Hill church deacon and longtime homeless outreach worker, has launched plans to replicate it. His new nonprofit group, the Oasis Coalition, aims to establish dozens of small social groups citywide, filling the gaps left by large, institutional programs that offer the homeless food and shelter but little or no personal connection.

“It’s five people in a book group, not 5,000 people fed, but it’s five people I can pull aside and talk to,’’ Tibbetts said.

Do You Love Me?

In honor of wedding season (in which I am currently knee deep), I've been reading a bunch of mushy love poems. Check out this one by Rumi, the famous Persian poet/ philosopher.

Do You Love Me?
By Rumi

A lover asked his beloved,
Do you love yourself more
than you love me?

The beloved replied,
I have died to myself
and I live for you.

I’ve disappeared from myself
and my attributes.
I am present only for you.

I have forgotten all my learning,
but from knowing you
I have become a scholar.

I have lost all my strength,
but from your power
I am able.

If I love myself
I love you.
If I love you
I love myself.

The Piano Speaks

If you're a fan of great metaphor, check out this poem by Sandra Beasley, Poetry Magazine's Featured Poet. Talk about words literally dancing on the page. Lovely!

The Piano Speaks
By Sandra Beasley

For an hour I forgot my fat self,
my neurotic innards, my addiction to alignment.

For an hour I forgot my fear of rain.

For an hour I was a salamander
shimmying through the kelp in search of shore,
and under his fingers the notes slid loose
from my belly in a long jellyrope of eggs
that took root in the mud. And what

would hatch, I did not know—
a lie. A waltz. An apostle of glass.

For an hour I stood on two legs
and ran. For an hour I panted and galloped.

For an hour I was a maple tree,
and under the summer of his fingers
the notes seeded and winged away

in the clutch of small, elegant helicopters.

Info about Sandra Beasley

Register Today for the KY Women Writers Conference

We're never too old to learn and never too great that we cannot improve. So, whether you're an award winning slam master or just a baby poetess, you should check out the Kentucky Women Writer's Conference. My beloved Rachel McKibbens will be there along with many other notable fem writers from all walks of life. This is guaranteed to be a great conference! I'm trying to figure out how I can get out of my 9-5 to make an appearance there.

Register

Quote of the WEEK

"All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers."
- Orison Swett Marden

This is What a Break Up Feels Like

It's been a while since I've experienced a break up, but all of the feelings come rushing back when I hear this piece. Marty hits it right on the head with this one!! Rock on sister.

Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell
By Marty McConnell

"Leaving is not enough
you must stay gone
change the locks
even on the apt he has never visited..."

"and now, you pull down the bridge between your houses
you make him call before he visits
you take a lover for granted"

"Don't lose too much weight
stupid girls are always trying to disappear
as revenge
but you are not stupid"

Brooklyn's Coming - An Open Letter to Sarah Palin

You know I can't resist a great Sarah Palin jab:-) Check out this poem by Jeananne Verlee. I've also included a bit of her bio from her myspace page below.

Enjoy!

JEANANN VERLEE is a poet, prose writer, actor, activist, and former punk rocker who collects tattoos and winks at boys. Her work has appeared in various journals, magazines and anthologies, including The New York Quarterly, Spindle, "His Rib" and others. Member of the 2008 louderARTS National Poetry Slam team, ranked 2nd in the nation at the 2008 National Poetry Slam, Jeanann also proudly serves as Co-SlamMaster for New York City’s Urbana Poetry Slam at Bowery Poetry Club. She was member of Urbana’s 2006 team, coach for the 2007 team and in 2008, qualified for two New York City National Poetry Slam teams. Jeanann shares an apartment with her best pal, Callisto, an 11 year old Border Collie-mix and can be found hugging a barstool in an Irish pub on the Lower East Side. She believes in you.